ANNE M. EVERLY

The First Lady of the St. Patrick’s Festival

On this 50th Saint Patrick’s Day of Dublin, Georgia’s 50th Saint Patrick’s Festival it is only fitting and proper that we take time to salute the First Lady of the Saint Patrick’s Festival. Although she was deservedly recognized by the Order of the Blarney Stone in 1978, this four-decade-long festival volunteer was never recognized as the Woman of the Year nor as the Senior Citizen of the Year.  As you will see, Anne Everly was the epitome of the old maxim, “Behind any great man, there is a great woman.”

Anne Middlebrooks Everly’s immeasurable contributions to the Saint Patrick’s Festival began as a matter of coincidence.  Everly had just moved back home to Dublin to raise three small children.  Early in her career at radio station WMLT, a conversation about a Saint Patrick’s Festival began around the coffee table at the station.  

“Right from the beginning, she wanted to be a part of it,” said son Richy Everly.  “Mom was drawn to the idea, desperately wanting to be a part of community endeavors in her hometown.  She was even elected the historian of the festival before it started,” Everly recalled.

In explaining how the festival began, Anne Everly wrote, “The festival was born of a casual conversation in the coffee room of WMLT radio station.  The town’s name - Dublin - was a natural for a Saint Patrick’s festival.  The staff of WMLT set out to structure a festival that would bring fun to everyone, young and old - store up happy childhood memories - and give an identity to our town and county.”

WMLT approached Herschel Lovett, Bill Lovett and W.H. Champion of The Dublin Courier Herald to combine their media resources to found and fund a festival until the community itself could take over.

“The first two years of the festival stayed under the wings of its founders and all expenses incurred were paid by the founders.  Any monies made by clubs and groups sponsoring events stayed in the clubs’ and groups’ treasuries. The first festival’s twenty events were scheduled in the official ‘Calendar of Events,’ wrote Anne Everly.

The festival gave the hardworking single mother an outlet for social activities, including her favorite pastime, bridge.

Daughter Kay Everly Braddy recalled, “For as long as I can remember, St. Patrick's Day and all of its festivities were a part of her life. She truly loved Dublin and wanted to give back to her community.”

Described as a determined woman, Kay stated that her mother, as one of the founding members of the St. Pat’s committee, was determined to do everything she could to make it the best it could be.

“The festival was her baby.  We used to tease her about all of the St. Patrick’s stuff she kept under her bed. Every March, she would drag it out and start working on it,” Richy fondly recalled.

Everly asserted, “Based on what she did and what I witnessed, Mom dug into it and was all into what she did.”

In speaking of his mother, who served as a judge in many of the early parades and pageants,” Richly concluded by saying, “She loved all aspects of the festival and would be so proud to see how it has evolved over the last 50 years.”

Not one to claim the credit for herself, Anne wrote in her own history of the festival, “It would not be possible to mention all of the names of the many people who  have contributed to the success of the Dublin/Laurens Saint Patrick’s Festival over the past 32 years.  But there is one name we can’t leave out - Richard “Dick” Killebrew, Dick was WMLT’s news director and Morning Wake Up Man.”

“Because of Dick, and the many others who have worked to support the Festival, we are still merry making and wearing the green,” she proclaimed.

Anne once wrote, “There is no other event in Laurens County that is as large and as far reaching in community involvement nor is there any other event that has been promoted with such success in a spirit of unity.”

In recalling her service to the festival, Kay Braddy said of her mom, “Many long hours were spent for many, many years as a member of the Order of the Blarney Stone to being in charge of the professional parade floats to serving as the historian. She enjoyed every minute she devoted to the festival and was determined to help make it better and better year after year. I'm sure one of her proudest moments was when Richy was crowned Little Mr. Dublin.”

For four decades Anne Everly saved every scrap of paper related to the festival.  She was the Historian of the St. Patrick’s Festival from the very first day.  Those treasures were preserved by the Everly family, who donated them to the Laurens County Historical Society.

Everly’s collection contains several large boxes of clippings, programs, photos, tickets and all sorts of ephemera of all that is Irish about Dublin.  The cataloging of the Anne M. Everly Saint Patrick’s Festival Collection has begun and any and all volunteers who wish to continue Ann’s project are asked to contact the Laurens County Historical Society at (478) 272-9242 or visit the museum at 702 Bellevue Avenue in Dublin.

In 1987, Anne Everly compiled a comprehensive history of the festival during its first thirty-two years.  It is published in the second volume of the History of Laurens County, Georgia.  

And on this Saint Patrick’s Day, daughter Kay can close her eyes and see her mom, who died in 2007,  as “she proudly dons her green blazer as she walks the pearly streets of heaven and shares stories of her hometown, Dublin.”

So on this day when everyone is Irish, it is my turn to salute my fellow historian.  Anne, along with Joann DiFazio,  was one of the first of the women who took little or no credit for the enduring success of the festival.  She was the first of the women who worked tirelessly behind the scenes while the founding fathers were lauded with plaques and awards.  She was Anne M. Everly, “the First Lady of the Dublin Saint Patrick’s Festival.”

MATT BROWN

The Scarlet Scourge

In his day, Matt Brown was considered one of the best football players in the football powerhouse state of Ohio.  Not a big man at all and weighing in as a senior in high school at 157 pounds, Brown played in an era when the single wing formation was the offense of the day.  Brown, a fast and strong blocker, was a natural quarterback and fullback, who blocked for the halfback who ran and threw passes under the single wing formation.  

Matt Brown, a son of Solmon and Thenia Brown,  was born in Dublin, Georgia in 1922.  The Brown family soon moved to Canton, Ohio.  Ironically Canton is the home of the National Football Hall of Fame.  And, it was football which made Matt Brown famous in the State of Ohio. 

Brown was more than a fast and effective blocker.  In those days, most players played both ways on offense and defense.  It was on defense where Brown shined at linebacker.  Although no defensive stats from his days at McKinley High in Canton, Ohio and at Ohio State University survive, Brown was regarded by his peers as one of the best of the Scarlet and Gray, the runner up for the 1944 NCAA National Championship. 

Brown enrolled in McKinley High, an integrated high school in Canton.  McKinley High is seventh in the nation in all time football wins with 739, coming in behind its chief, long time rival, Massillon.  The two Starke County schools, located 8 miles apart, are the all time kings of Ohio high school football and two of the nation's greatest football programs.  McKinley won the 1934 High School National Championship.   Massillon was the top team in the nation in 1935, 1936 and 1940.  

Matt Brown joined the team in 1939 as a 160-pound right half back under coach John Reed.  One of his idols at McKinley was the great Marion Motley, a fellow Georgian, who went on to become a stalwart member of the Cleveland Browns and the second African American  member of NFL Hall of Fame in Canton. 

In the 1939 contest, Matt Brown managed to score his team's only touchdown in yet another loss to Massillon. 

After Massillon's victory in the 1940, their legendary coach Paul Brown paid homage to Matt Brown, the McKinley captain,  for fighting his heart out  in an effort to win the game.  It would be Paul Brown's last game as a high school coach and Matt Brown's last as a high school player.  The following year, Coach Brown took the reins of the Ohio State Buckeyes.  After the end of the war, he became the coach of the Cleveland Browns leading them to 4 AAFC titles and 3  NFL championships.

For his efforts in his final two seasons, Matt Brown was named to the All-Ohio team.  He was generally regarded as McKinley's best player in the 1940 season.   Going with Coach Brown to Ohio State was his assistant coach, Carroll Whiddoes.  Both men remembered Matt's heart, drive and determination in the two games against Massillon  and convinced him to join the team.  They made a wise choice as Dublin native lettered for three seasons.

The 1943 Buckeyes, decimated by the loss of many of their best players to the war effort, managed to earn three easy victories, but the Ohioans lost twice as many games in Paul Brown's final season in the collegiate ranks.  In 1944, Brown joined the Navy and coached a team at  the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. 

For most of the 1943 season, Matt Brown was nagged by injuries.  On October 9, 1943 at Ross Field in Chicago, Matt Brown was a part of trio of backs who made college football history.  In the game against Great Lakes, Matt Brown started at fullback, Red Williams started at quarterback, and Jasper Harris was the starting halfback.  What was remarkable about that lineup was that all three backs were graduates of the same high school, McKinley High in Canton. It was a mark which has rarely, if ever, been matched in the 145 years of college football.   Brown played some at quarterback, who in the single wing formation was primarily only a blocking back. 

It was during his junior season of 1944 when Matt Brown stepped it up another notch. Brown was a monster on defense, then under Coach Whiddoes.  Brown, on defense,  lead the team which easily outpaced all of its opponents, except in the Michigan game, which they won by only four points.   

Brown was one of two starting offensive backs with experience. The other was Lee Horvath, a graduate student in dental school, who was allowed to come back and play in his last year of eligibility.  Horvath had a breakout season in 1944, gaining 669 rushing yards and 1,200 all-purpose yards as the Buckeyes turned in a 9 0 record and finished second in the national polls, behind the powerful and unbeatable Army team. 

In 1945, Brown was a stalwart on defense, playing with Oliver Cline, who went on to play six seasons in professional football.  The Buckeyes finished 7-2, with a close loss to Michigan and a stunning upset by Purdue.  

After leaving football at the end of the 1945 season, Matt Brown returned to the athletic fields in 1948 when he was hired by Coach Bill Bell as the boxing coach of the North Carolina A&T Aggies.    Brown coached the Aggie boxing team to a Central Inter-collegiate Athletic Association tide in 1952. In 1952 and 1953, Brown's tennis team garnered the conference championship. 

Brown left A&T in 1954.  Fourteen years later he returned as the head tennis coach and assistant football coach under Hornsby Howell. 

At A&T, Brown was heralded as one of the university's exceptional backfield coaches.   His star players included William "Red" Jackson, the Aggies' All-American quarterback in the early 1950's. Brown also coached Art Statuni, who won the NCAA heavyweight boxing championship in 1953. 

After a long illness, Matt Brown died on June 22, 1976 in a Greensboro, N.C. hospital.   Brown was still in the prime of life as a coach.   

In his brief stay on the Earth, Matt Brown was one of the lucky ones, a group of young African American Laurens County boys from the 191os and 1920s, which included boxing champion Sugar Ray Robinson, baseball all star Quincy Trouppe, Negro League footballer Otis Troup,  inventor Claude Harvard, N.A.S.A. physicist Robert Shurney and Tuskegee Airmen; Cummings, John Whitehead and Marion Rodgers.  These young men were able to escape the bondage of the South's social and political ways of their youths to exceed at the highest levels in athletics, science and military service. 

CAROLYN JAMES

The Top Secretary of the Army

Carolyn James, of Adrian, Georgia, wasn't the first woman to join the Women's Army Corps during World War II, nor was she the first Georgian out of the some 150,000 women who volunteered to help the war effort in uniform.  But it was this patriotic granddaughter of the founder of Adrian, who made U.S. Military history twice in her 20-year career.

Carolyn Hauser James, a daughter of Thomas Jefferson James II and Inez E. Hauser, was born in Adrian, Georgia on January 21, 1910.  Her grandfather, Thomas J. "Capt. T.J." James, founded the town of Adrian in the 1890s as a base for his railroad, the Wadley & Mt. Vernon, and his massive farming interests.  Not long after her grandfather's death, the James family fell on hard times.  During the years before the Great Depression, Miss James and her family moved to the Miami-Dade County area, where Carolyn took a job as a stenographer in a law office and later in a hotel.

As a divorced mother of a son James Richard Owen, 14, Carolyn decided it was time for her to join the war effort officially.  So at the age of 35, Carolyn enlisted in the Women's Army Corps on March 23, 1945 in Miami.  In the late 1940s, Carolyn worked at Oliver General Hospital in Augusta, Georgia.

The Women's Army Corps provided valuable service to the Army in times of war and peace.  General Douglas MacArthur proclaimed that the WACs "are my best soldiers."  The general added, "They work harder, complain less, and were better disciplined than men." Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower said, "their contributions in efficiency, skill, spirit, and determination are immeasurable."

As the country returned to war in 1950 in Korea, Carolyn and other stenographers saw an increased work load.  Carolyn was assigned to Tokyo, where she was given the task of devising a system to organize and file correspondence related to the truce meetings which were held in hopes of ending the war quickly.

In her position as administrative assistant to the G-1, Carolyn received the Brown Star Medal for meritorious service to the Far East Command headquarters.  The citation for the medal read in part," for devising an ingenious system of processing and filing high priority correspondence and expedient cross-indexing providing a chronological history relevant to the cease-fire armistice negotiations in Korea."

In the week before Christmas, 1952, James' meritorious achievements led her assignment by General James A. Van Fleet to his 8th Army headquarters in Korea.   Master Sergeant James, the first ever master sergeant in the United States  Women's Army Corps, was joined by Corporal Louise M. Farrell, of Billings, Montana as the first two members of the WACs to be permanently assigned to duty in Korea.

Carolyn James once told her family friends  that while in Korea, she was scheduled to receive the Bronze Star from General of the Army Douglas MacArthur.  She related that she wore her best uniform to headquarters.  Just as she was to enter the building, however, a bird left its droppings all over her uniform, leaving her with a dilemma - see the General in that state, or go back and change and risk being late.  She chose the former, which is perhaps why I never saw a photo of the ceremony, although her uniform blouse shows she wore the medal.

Carolyn, in a January 1953 letter to her cousins, Anne Laura Hauser and Melville Schmidt ,  wrote, "I was transferred to Korea on 18 December, after the Far East Command had made a thorough search for a WAC to fill the position of personal secretary to General Van Fleet, and finally decided I had the desired qualifications - although my tour was about up.  However, when they approached me, I volunteered to extend for six months.  Since there are no other WACs in Korea, Eighth Army recommended that I bring another for company, so I chose a girl who had court reporting experience.  We had the honor of being the first two WACs to ever be permanently assigned to Korea's combat area." 

"Of course, everything considered,  Public Information Office and the other publicity media decided it was good material for WAC recruiting purposes, so for one week prior to our departure, we were constantly being photographed - motion and still; televised, and radio interviewed   Then we were flown over in a special mission B-17, " James continued.

"We were cordially received by all in headquarters here.  They have really done everything to make us comfortable and happy.  We're billeted in a senior officers' billets , which had a portion of the second floor allotted to female personnel - Red Cross workers, the Chief Nurse of the Eighth Army, and us.  We eat our meals here in headquarters in a little spot right outside the kitchen of the Army Commander's mess," the revered sergeant said. 

Sergeant James stated, "My duty hours are quite long -- from 0800 to 2100 and sometimes 2200 (9:00 and 10:00) at night.  However, movements are so restricted and the working conditions are so pleasant, it isn't too bad.  We have a little Korean house girl who takes care of our clothes, which gives us added freedom from outside chores."

With fond remembrances, the Adrian native recorded, "I have certainly enjoyed my short tenure as General Van Fleet's secretary, for he is without doubt one of the finest men I have ever had the privilege of knowing.  He is a superior field commander, American and humanitarian, and is respected and admired by everyone - Koreans included." 

In summarizing her war experience, Sergeant James stated, "The devastation and misery in this country as the result of this war is indeed heart-rending, but there is much evidence that our government and its people are doing everything possible to alleviate much of the suffering.  Aside from the many government-sponsored welfare organizations, every military unit (including the front-line units) has its own welfare program in the form of aid to orphanages, hospitals, etc.  It certainly increases one's pride in his country and its people to see such a genuine display of generosity toward those less fortunate." 

Carolyn's time in Korea was short as an armistice was signed on July 27, 1953, although a 1963 Colorado Springs Gazette article stated that M. Sgt. James has gone to Korea six months before hostilities began in 1950. 

James was assigned as Chief Clerk of the General Staff office at  ARADCOM Headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado in the summer of 1956.  In her seventh and last year at ARADCOM, James served as Administrative Officer of the Training Branch, G-3.

With the passage of The Military Pay Bill of 1958, Congress added pay grades of E-8 and E-9. With the new law in effect.  Carolyn H. James became the first in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) promoted to grade E-8, making her the first WAC promoted to master sergeant (or first sergeant).  It was during her tenure in Colorado Springs when Master Sgt. James was promoted to Sergeant Major (E-9) making her the first woman in the history of the United States Army to hold that esteemed enlisted man's rank.  

In 1963, Sergeant Major James was awarded an Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a second Army Commendation Medal.  She was assigned to the Women's Army Corps School at Fort McClellan, Alabama.  A second Oak Leaf Cluster was awarded to before her April 1965 retirement ceremony.   

Carolyn James lived for nearly two and one half decades in Colorado Springs following her retiriement after twenty years of service to the Army.   Sergeant Major James died on May 8, 1991 in local hospice.  

And thus the story of the determined and patriotic lady from Adrian, Georgia, who grew up to serve the country as the top secretary in the Army. 

RON O'QUINN

An Oldie But a Goodie Who Still Rocks

If it’s a Saturday night and you are listening to the your favorite oldies music, chances are good that you will hear the voice of Dublin’s own,  Ron O’Quinn.  Ron has been spinning records, pushing buttons and wise cracking jokes on the radio for all or parts of the last seven decades.  He has met  many of the most successful singers and rock and roll groups of the 1960s. And, many will tell you that his lively style, witty humor and musical knowledge make him one of the greatest disc jockeys  in Rock and Roll music history.  

Ron O’Quinn was born on March 4, 1943 in McRae, Georgia.  There was a time when Ron joined the Air Explorer Scouts and dreamed of being a pilot like his  father, Joe O’Quinn, who was a fighter pilot in World War II and an instructor at Spence Field in Moultrie, Georgia.  Ron can’t think of a more caring mother than his own mother, Nita Adams.

As activities at the base in Moultrie began to slow down,  jobs were getting scarce.  One day, Ron’s life changed forever.  At the age of 16, Ron took a job at a $1.50 an hour hosting a teen radio show at WMGA in Moultrie.  Ron loved listening at night to the sounds of the early days of rock and roll and country music coming from radio stations in distant parts of the Southeast. The voice of one disc jockey, the legendary “John R.” Richbourg, still endures in his head. 

“I don’t listen to the radio much these days.  I don’t have to, because all of the songs are always up there in my head,” Ron proclaims.

During his life in the music, Ron has met many celebrities.  Some of the first, were during his tenure at WMGA.  They were Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, Hall of Fame songwriters who wrote many of the hits of the Everly Brothers, “All I Have To Do Is Dream,” Bye-Bye Love,” and “Wake Up Little Susie.”  Boudleaux Bryant, who hailed from nearby Shellman, Georgia, teamed with his wife to write the Tennessee State Anthem, “Rocky Top.” 

Ron left Moultrie in 1961 after graduation and entered the Army.  During his two-year hitch in the Army, Ron, a marksman and machine gunnner, earned the esteemed title of an Army Ranger.

Ron returned to radio in 1963 when he took a job at WVLD in Valdosta.   O’Quinn kept climbing the ladder by  moving south in search of better paying jobs, first at WROD in Daytona and WLCY in Tampa/St, Petersburg, where he was known to his listeners as “Jack E. Rabbitt.” 

O’Quinn’s first big break in radio came in August 1965.  With his recording setting 60% share of the radio audience in Tampa, he was hired to work at WFUN, one of Miami’s best Top 40 Radio Stations.  

While at WFUN, Ron was again at the top of this game with high ratings and emceing concerts. Once he met the Rolling Stones while introducing them at a concert.  When the Stones failed to kept their promise to go on his radio show, Ron gave out their hotel room numbers to his listeners.  When the police enjoined him from giving out the number, Ron exacted revenge by borrowing a waiter’s clothes, taking the rock and rollers’ drink order and leaving them stranded, but not before getting his picture made with the iconic rockers.

Listen to Ron's final show on WFUN at  www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz_P38SAXuk

Once again, his success at a highly rate Top 40 radio station, led to yet another career making opportunity.  

“I continued my lucky rating streak and was hired to set up the 'most powerful pirate radio stations in the world', Swinging Radio England,” Ron recalled. 

These “pirate” stations broadcasted from a ship in international waters, 4 1/2 miles off   the shore of  Great Britain.  In those days, the British Broadcasting Corporation severely limited air play of rock and roll music.  With the stations beyond the limits of control of  the British government, the stations blasted powerful signals throughout most of the United Kingdom to eager listeners seeking to hear their favorite tunes. 

As the station’s first program director, O'Quinn altered the theretofore automated format into live radio in May 1966.  Borrowing every snappy jingle, funny gimmick and every successful radio format he had ever seen and heard, Ron and his fellow DJ’s became an instant success.

Watch video of Swinging Radio England.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0KJhMji1nA

“Because of the notoriety our radio stations received in Europe, I was invited to meet The Beatles at the London offices of Nems Enterprise. The meeting went well and a few days later I was asked if I wanted to attend a recording session at Abbey Road. I did, of course, and while there cleared my throat, coughed actually, on the Tax Man song,” Ron recalled.

“In August of 1966, I was asked to become a member of the Official Beatles Touring Party and accompany the Beatles from England on their American tour. This tour would be their last ever,”  Ron remembered.  

The tour got off to in inauspicious start when the plane took off in a terrific thunderstorm.  Ron was there, along with Kenny Everett and Jerry Leighton of the other pirate stations, to give their prospective of the tour to their listeners back in England. . 

Ron spent a lot of time with all of the Beatles.  He developed a close relationship with all of the Fab For, but especially with John Lennon, with whom he traded rings for a while.  

“John was deeply disturbed about the remark attributed to him that the Beatles were more popular than God or Jesus,” Ron remembered about Lennon, who desperately sought out to learn more about Jesus and the wonders of His love to rid himself of his demons. 

“He was asked by a reporter that if the Beatles and Billy Graham were appearing at the same time, who would draw more fans, to which John instinctively  replied,  ‘The Beatles,’” recalled  Ron, who was once used as a double for Paul McCartney to avoid an army of adoring fans.

When the tour was over, Ron had problems getting permission to return to England.  The station, banned by the British government from broadcasting ads of British businesses on the pirate stations, failed and was no more in November 1966. 

Ron & The Buckinghams

Ron returned to America, right back to his old job in WFUN.  In the fall of 1969, he moved across the country to KYA in San Francisco, for a brief while.  During his career,  Ron had stints on WUBE Cincinnati and WYLD in New Orleans, O’Quinn was hired being National Program Director of Urban Stations for Rounsaville Organization, an Atlanta-based company. 

In early 1971, O'Quinn became the manager of WSIZ in Ocilla, Georgia where he stayed until 1976. In 1987, after being out of  the radio business for nearly a decade, Ron moved to Dublin, where he produced a weekly oldies show, “Rock and Roll Reunion,”  syndicated to nearly ninety markets and heard locally over WKKZ and WQZY.  His show, “Memories Unlimited ened in 2001. 

In 2012, Ron, a member of the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame,  was named as a Legacy Inductee into the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame.

In summing up his career in radio, this humble man merely says,   “I can't believe I've been paid all these years for doing what I love.”

Ron lives just outside of Laurens County in his ancestral home of Wheeler County. From a spare bedroom, which he transformed into a studio, Ron produces another weekly show, “Rock and Roll Rewind,” which is  heard  all over Europe by a million or more listeners each week as well as listeners to  several dozen stations in the U.S.  

Ron will tell you quickly, “I have no set playlist, I just play whatever strikes me at the time,. 

So on this Saturday night, get in your car, turn your radio on, ride around and listen to the music, the music of our lives.

To listen to Ron's podcast go to: http://rewindron.podomatic.com/

With Nancy Sinatra

With Fats Domino

With James Brown 

B. FRANK BROWN, JR.

A Child of Flowers

Dr. Bartley Frank Brown, a man of many talents, died on the 1st day of November 2014, in his 98th year on this earth.  A native of Dublin, Georgia, Dr. Brown’s 97-plus year life was filled with just that, life.  Brown was a wizard at teaching, gardening and studying nearly every subject  he wanted. He loved to burst into a song.  “We’re Off To See the Wizard,” was one of his favorites.

Frank Brown was a flower child of sorts.  As an educator in the 1960s, he refused to conform to the norm, preferring instead to let some students do their own thing,  within limits of course.  As an amateur botanist, he turned on to the beauty of tropical plants (not the smoking kind but the flowering kind.)   According to some sources, it was not unusual to see this sprightly septuagenarian walking merrily barefoot through his gardens.

Born in 1917 in Dublin, Georgia  to B. Frank Brown, Sr. and Martha Virginia Lowther Stanley, Dr. Brown descends from several of Laurens County’s oldest families, the Stanleys, Lowthers, Moores and McCalls. His maternal grandfather, Vivian Lee Stanley, served a long term as a Prison Commissioner of the State of Georgia and was directly involved with the extradition of Paul Burns to Georgia, which was immortalized in the 1932 movie, “I Was a Fugitive From a Chain Gang.”

His great-uncle, Harris McCall Stanley, who co-founded what became the Dublin Courier Herald, was Georgia’s first Labor Commissioner and is a member of the Georgia Newspaper Hall of Fame.

Thomas McCall, the progenitor of the McCall family, was Surveyor General of Georgia as a 21-year-old and is recognized as the father of modern wine making in America.

Following a stint in the Navy in World War II, Dr. Brown moved to Florida to continue his education.  His career in education began in 1953 when he was named Principal of Melbourne High School and later served as Superintendent of Brevard County Schools. At Melbourne High,  Brown led the way to alternative methods of learning.  

Brown’s innovative procedures included nongraded programs and establishing a library which was larger than the school’s gym.  His programs gave alternatives to the typical student.  One former student said that he would have never graduated if Brown had not given him the go ahead to graduate after memorizing the names of all of the plants on the school’s campus.  One of Brown’s forward looking innovations was the addition of Chinese to the curriculum.  

On his 90th birthday in 2007, Dr. Brown was honored with the naming of the Science and Research Center of Melbourne High School in his honor.

Brown, a fervent learner, shared the fruits of teaching with the publishing of six books on education: The Non Graded High School, The Appropriate Placement School, Education by Appointment, Crisis in Secondary Education, The Transition of Youth to Adulthood and The Complete Guide to Prevention and Treatment of Athletic Injuries.   His successes in education drew the attention of CBS anchor Walter Cronkite and an editor of Time Magazine, which published a feature on his educational methods.

Education was Frank Brown’s mission in life.

His passion and love was the tropical flowering  plant.

Following his retirement, Dr. Brown traveled to tropical regions in Asia and around the world cataloging exotic plants, including the Aglaonema, twenty of which he hybridized and patented.  A popular speaker on the botanical circuit, Brown wrote and compiled three books on tropical plants, including the first ever on the popular croton.

More than anything else, Frank Brown wanted to share the beauty of these tropical plants with the world.  Living in an environment conducive to these tropical beauties, Brown enlisted the aid of  Cleo Millare, his dearest friend.  With Cleo’s aid as the nursery manager, Brown opened his Valkaria gardens to the public.

Brown lived on a five-acre, pine tree studded home site south of Palm Bay off Interstate Highway 95.    The aging anthophile constructed a nearly two-acre garden to display his prized flowers as well give him an ideal location to continue his experiments in hybridization.

Known as a carefree and happy man by those who met him, including myself, Dr. Brown lived where he loved and loved where he lived.  He would live nowhere else in the world.

During his retirement years, Brown was frequently summoned by Florida governors and education officials seeking his advice on old problems and new trends in education.  And, once in a while, the President of the United States would call for guidance, presidents Kennedy, Carter and Johnson to name a few.

But now, back to the flowers.  Brown, who held a couple of patents shy of thirty and the title of a Fullbright Scholar,  was self taught in botany. He never had a class in botany. Brown learned what he knew by reading books, visiting gardens and observing the plants in their natural habitats.   His interest in tropical plants was sparked when he took a trip to the Philippines on an assignment for the Department of Defense.

Dr. B. Frank Brown’s legacy to Melbourne and Palm Bay cannot be understated.  He put his school on the map for his successful, non-traditional educational methods> His most lasting legacy, the Valkaria Gardens, will be where lovers of beautiful lush tropical flowers gather for as long as there is someone there to tend the gardens to keep the beauty of Brown’s dream alive.

To visit Valkaria Gardens online go to www.valkariagardens.com 

THE LAST TRUE MEASURE OF DEVOTION

On a small sandy hill, behind an old country church, there lies the body of a fallen, nearly forgotten hero. His tombstone simply reads "Paul E. Sly, November 3, 1921 to January 8, 1945."  You don't know Paul Sly, but seventy years ago today, this 23-year-old, Evansville, Indiana-born, Florida-raised journeyman welder and 82nd Airborne paratrooper  gave the last full measure of devotion to protect the freedoms of his family and his country.  This is his story.

Paul's parents, Anzy and Thomas Benjamin Sly, in their senior years worked in a citrus cannery in the small Central Florida town of Davenport, Florida, where Paul  graduated high school.

Paul Sly was drafted into the army although military service ran in Sly's blood.  His grandfather, Samuel Sly, was most likely a member of the  58th Indiana Infantry, which fought in the Tennessee,  Chickamauga and the March to the Sea campaigns. 

Paul married Kate Johnson, daughter of Kelley and Bell Fort Johnson, in a simple ceremony held in the Baptist church in Orianna in mid June of 1940.  The couple lived for a while in the Johnson community around Pleasant Springs Baptist Church on the old Savannah Road in eastern Laurens County.  

With a wife to support, Paul Sly took a job in the Carolinas as a welder.    In June of 1943, he was ordered to report for a physical at Carolina Beach, North Carolina.  By mid-October, Sly returned to Winter Park, Florida for his induction into the U.S. Army.  "If you want to make more money, join the paratroopers," the sergeant said.  It was extremely dangerous duty, but Paul had a family to support according to his son, Paul, Jr., who was born in July 1944, just as his father was arriving in Europe. 

Paul Sly (lower left corner) endured rigorous training assignments, achieving parachutist status on May 13, 1944. As a member of the famed 505th Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division, Sly's status as a parachutist came too late to allow him to participate in the pre-dawn jump into Normandy on D-Day.

The 505th Infantry regiment, activated in 1942, participated in the campaigns of Sicily, Salerno, Normandy, the Netherlands and the Battle of the Bulge during World War II, during which the regiment received two Presidential Unit Citations, three foreign distinguished unit citations, the French fourragère, the Netherlands Military Order of William, and the Belgium fourragère. 

Sly joined the 82nd in July 1944 in France.  In September 1944, the unit participated in Operation Market Garden.  In December, the 505th jumped into an area which would host one of the war's most notorious and deadliest battles of World War II, the Battle of the Bulge. 

Just after New Years Day of 1945, Sly's battalion was assigned to occupy and move south out from the village of Reharmont in Southeast Belgium in the center of the regiment's attack.  Under intense 88 mm artillery, mortar and small arms fire, Sly's Company C  incurred heavy casualties as it moved out from the woods  north of Reharmont. 

"They had fields of fire - it became obvious to us early on that nobody was going to cross that open ground in daylight without tank or artillery support, so we fell back into the woods and started screaming for artillery fire and tank support, and neither were forthcoming," Sgt. Elmo Bell of C Company recalled.   

Finally, C Company was ordered to move forward to the edge of the woods for the assault on the town, which eventually succeeded, but with great loss of life reducing the company down to half of its normal strength.  

"Your husband was wounded in Belgium by the explosion of an enemy shell while he was engaged in delivering a mesage from the commander of his organization.  That was on January 4, 1945," later wrote Major General James Gavin in a letter to Kate Sly.  

The first telegraphic notice came on January 25,: "Regret to inform you your husband Paul E. Sly was seriously wounded in action, 4 January 1945 in Belgium, J.A.  Ulio."

The final and devastating notice soon followed that Pvt. Paul E. Sly died from his wounds on January 8, 1945. 

Following Private Sly's death, letters poured in from military and political officials. "The significance of his heroic service to his country will be preserved and commemorated by a grateful nation.  It is hoped that this thought may give you strength and courage in your sorrows," wrote Major General J.A. Julio, Adjutant General, United States Army, January 28, 1945

Secretary of War Henry L. Stemson added,  "The loss of a loved one is beyond man's repairing, and the medal is of slight value; not so. However, the message it carries is we are all comrades in arms in this battle for our country and those who have gone are not, and  never will be forgotten by those of us who remain." 

Major General James M. Gavin, the youngest major general division commander in the Army in World War II and who jumped with his own men,  said, "Private Sly was a loyal and well disciplined soldier who had developed a high sense of loyalty.  His humor was a great morale builder and consequently he was liked by his comrades."  

"Putting aside family ties, the admiration, respect and affection of comrades are a soldier's most priceless possessions.  These possessions I believe your son had earned in full measure.  Death of such a man leaves each member of the division a lasting sense of loss, from which there comes to you a deep sense of personal sympathy,"  continued General Gavin in his letter of February 23, 1945. 

Chaplain Philip M.  Hannan in comforting Sly's widow wrote, "From the account of those who were near him when he met his death, your son was hit by a shell fragment and died very shortly thereafter.  His death occurred in Belgium.  The greatest courage and devotion of men like your son has made possible the truly epic history and accomplishments of this regiment, you can be justly proud of him as a loyal soldier and Catholic.  

"Although your son has been with this regiment for quite some time, he was well respected and had won the friendship and goodwill of all of his comrades.  During the campaign in which he met his death and in previous engagements, Paul Sly was noted for his aggressiveness.  His officers testified that he was a very good soldier and always ready to take the worst with a smile," Chaplain Hannan said. 

The Chaplain assured Mrs. Sly that her husband did have the comfort and aid of his religion at the time of his death and all during the bitterest winter weather that the Catholic men continued to attend Mass and to receive general absolution, even in the deep snow drifts.  

Atlanta Constitution owner, Clark Howell, wrote, "There are no words which serve to alleviate your sorrow, but I did want to send you my sincere sympathy." Standard letters from future governor of Georgia and then  Adjutant General S. Marvin Griffin and Georgia Governor Ellis Arnall came to Mrs. Sly's mail box in March. 

 "Your son was buried in Belgium and I can assure you that this was accomplished in a most befitting manner by his comrades with an Army Chaplain officiating," wrote General Gavin in a most personal letter.  For more than two and one half years his body laid in the United States Military Cemetery Henri Chapelle, Belgium, Grave No. 167, Row 9, Plot No. VV.

In November 1947, one by one, 6250 coffins, containing the remains of Private Sly and other servicemen who died in Europe, were unloaded from the hold of the USS Joseph Connolly in New York Harbor.  New York Mayor William O'Dwyer,  who presided over the ceremonies, wrote Kate Sly, "As mayor of New York and on behalf of the citizens of this city, I extend my heartfelt sympathy to the family of Pvt. Paul E. Sly, who so honorably gave his life that others might enjoy peace and freedom. I trust and pray his sacrifice will not have been in vain."

Included aboard the shipment of fallen heroes were the bodies of T Sgt. Emmett Asbell, S. Sgt. Palmer N. Braddy, 2nd Lt. Blakely Parrott, and T-4 Johnny Rowland of Dublin.  Six thousand marchers escorted the bodies up Fifth Avenue and the Hero's Canyon.  This time, there was no ticker tapes thrown out of windows nor were there any  cheers yelled from the skyscrapers. Only the mourning sound of  mothers' tears of  anguish and the muffled respectful drumbeats could be heard as they reverberated through what is still called "The Canyon of Heroes."  

It was late in the cool, cloudy afternoon of  the third Thursday of November 1947, when the body of Private Paul Edward Sly was finally laid to rest in the cemetery of Pleasant Springs Baptist Church in southeastern Laurens County.  Gill C. Dudley had accompanied Sly's body on  the last final leg of his journey home.  Memories of that mournful day are still vivid in Paul Sly Jr.'s mind.  Members of the local unit of the VFW served as pallbearers in a ceremony presided over by V.A. Chaplain, W.J. Willingham. 

Kate Sly lovingly kept the memories of her husband's service and his death. If you close your eyes and turn on your other senses you can still feel the love and smell her perfume in the brittle, yellowing  pages of her chocolate brown scrapbook.  

And now, on this 70th anniversary of Paul Sly's last true measure of devotion, it is only proper and fitting for our community to recognize his acts of heroism.  On December 6, 1947, Kate J. Sly signed OQMG Form # 623 in applying for a military headstone for her husband, Serial No. 34795788 .  

A small marker was placed on his grave, but that marker is now missing.   Through the aid of Paul Sly, Jr. and  the  Laurens County Historical Society, there will be an appropriate marker which tells the true identity of this never to be forgotten hero, "Private Paul E. Sly, Co. C, 505th Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, United States Army, World War II."  

JAMES BARNES DUGGAN

DR. JAMES BARNES DUGGAN

In the grand lore of Laurens County, no legend has been more celebrated than the acts of a young Confederate Surgeon and his valiant effort to protect the resources of Chappell's  Mill during General William T. Sherman's cataclysmic "March to the Sea" near the end of the Civil War.  Despite reports to the contrary that his efforts were unsuccessful, Duggan and his lone aide did accomplish their objective, protecting the mill.  In his private life, Dr. James Barnes Duggan was a guiding force behind the establishment of one of  the county's oldest and most important institutions, the Laurens County Library.  

James Barnes Duggan, a s son of Archelaus and Elizabeth Walker Duggan was born in Washington County on November 1, 1833.  One of five brothers, Duggan graduated from the University Medical College in Knoxville, Tennessee.  Duggan began his practice in Wilkinson County and supplemented his income through large farming interests.  Duggan was married three times.  His first wife Nancy Jackson bore him four sons; Isaac Jackson, William Lee, James Henry and Paul Franklin.  His last two wives were a Miss Brown and Emma Bass, sister-in-law of Dr. Benjamin Franklin Stanley, a Confederate surgeon whose family operated Chappell's Mill, then called Stanley's Mill.

On March 4, 1862, during a massive organization of military companies of the Georgia Volunteer Infantry, James B.  Duggan was elected First Lieutenant of Company A,  "The Wilkinson Rifles," of the 49th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment.   His company first saw action during the Battles of the Seven Days on the Virginia Peninsula in late June and early July of 1862.  Following the battles of Cedar Mountain and the Second Manassas  Lt. Duggan replaced Captain Samuel T. Player, who was elevated to Major of the Regiment.  A soldier in Duggan's regiment, was given credit for killing the highest ranking Union officer killed during the war,  General Phillip Kearney, at the Battle of Chantilly.   Capt. Duggan led the company while guarding prisoners at Harper's Ferry during the horrific Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam).  Duggan led his company to victory at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. His company was held in reserve in the climatic battle of Gettysburg.  The Wilkinson Rifles participated in the bloody retreating battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Courthouse before retreating to a defensive position around Richmond and Petersburg.    On June 11, 1864, Capt.  Duggan was elected as Major of the 49th Georgia replacing Major John A. Durham, who died from wounds that he suffered at Jerico Ford.

After the long hot summer of 1864, Grant's overpowering forces were poised in a strangle hold against the embattled defenders of the Confederate capital at Richmond and its neighbor to the south, the strategic city of Petersburg.  During the late fall and winter,  when the armies basically took off from the war, Dr. Duggan was granted a leave to return back to his home.

The date was November 25, 1864.  The advance elements of the Union Calvary already reached Ball's Ferry on the Oconee River in Wilkinson County.  Ball's Ferry is located about 1/4 mile north of the present Georgia Highway No. 57 bridge over the river.  The cavalry unit was dispatched to the ferry to secure it for passage by the 15th and 17th Army Corps.  These two corps, composed of nearly sixty thousand men, were the Right Wing of Gen. William T. Sherman's army.

     As the Right Wing approached the ferry on the 25th, patrols were sent down major roads to reconnoiter the area for signs of Gen. Joseph Wheeler's Confederate cavalry.  General Osterhaus ordered the First Division under Gen. Charles Woods to march toward the Lightwood Knot Bridges on Big Sandy Creek.  The 29th Missouri (mounted) was dispatched to destroy the bridges and to guard all crossings along the road to Dublin.  General Wheeler and nearly four thousand cavalry men had just crossed the Oconee at Blackshear's Ferry the day before.

Major Duggan was acutely aware that grist mills were prime targets of Gen. Sherman's men.  The local mill, then known as Stanley's Mill and now known as Chappell's Mill, was also serving as a cotton warehouse with a few hundred bales in storage.  He became aware of the fact that "Yaller Jim," a mulatto servant belonging to the family which owned the mill, had run off to join the Yankees.  Upon hearing of the approach of the Union Cavalry, Dr. Duggan mounted his horse and dashed off toward the Toomsboro Road.  He arrived at the Lightwood Knot Bridges over a swollen Big Sandy Creek.  Legend has it that the bridges were named because the Indians, who once populated the area, bridged the creek by piling a long row of "fat lightered" stumps in the creek.

     Dr. Duggan fell back toward a house where he found an elderly black woman washing clothes in a boiling pot.  Dr. Duggan formulated a plan to deter the cavalry.  He briefed the lady about his plan.  She agreed to help if the good doctor would insure the safety of her home.  The Major and the lady then set fire to the bridge and its trestles.

     Just then four cavalrymen with "Yaller Jim" on a mule approached from the northeast.  They dismounted and attempted to put out the fire.  Major Duggan and the lady began to open fire on the perplexed cavalrymen, who managed to get off a few return shots.  Through the smoke they saw Major Duggan waving his arms appearing to be ordering his men into action.  The cavalry, fearing they had found that Gen. Wheeler's Cavalry had  double backed and returned to Ball's Ferry, reported to their superiors that they had completed a successful mission by destroying the bridges.  "Yaller Jim" lost his mule and ran into the woods - never to be seen or heard from again.  Dr. Duggan dashed off to his home and found it safely intact.  He returned back toward the bridges and put out the fires.  He graciously  rewarded  the woman who had helped him save Stanley's Mill from destruction by Sherman's "Bummers."

     Dr. Duggan returned to his regiment and surrendered with the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865 at Appomattox Courthouse.  Duggan served in the Georgia Legislature from 1875 to 1876. Dr. Duggan later moved to Laurens County and built a home known as "Elmwood."  A community bearing that name is centered around the intersection of Ga. Highway 338 and Claxton Dairy/Mt. Olive Road.   He died on September 29, 1915 and is buried in the Stanley Family Cemetery, affectionately known as "The Ditch," which lies only a short distance from Chappell's Mill.

In 1903, Duggan's initial pledge of $100.00 led to the building of Laurens County's first public library.  His portrait now hangs in the Heritage Center of the Laurens County Library as a reminder of his most enduring contribution to our community.